Lake view: Shifting tax dollar priorities

“Memphis Soul” Cultural Exchange Program: Wow! What a line-up of great performers – all in one place; the White House! It looks as though everyone in attendance really enjoyed the music of some great entertainers. Were you invited? I wasn’t either.

“Memphis Soul” Cultural Exchange Program: Wow! What a line-up of great performers – all in one place; the White House! It looks as though everyone in attendance really enjoyed the music of some great entertainers. Were you invited? I wasn’t either.

What does a “musical bash” like this cost, over one million dollars? How much of your tax dollars were used to fund this White House event - $433,000. However, PBS did film this event and will be airing it later on this spring, so you will be able to see all of the musical greats that performed and the VIP crowd that was in attendance.

Then I wondered how much of our tax dollars are given to PBS every year – about 40% to as much as 50% of their annual budget is our tax dollars given to them by our government. Then what about all the folks who make a donation of their after-tax dollars? So I looked it up on their website. It is estimated that private donations would equal about $1 per person in the United States each year. That’s over $300 million dollars. That’s wonderful that so many are inclined to contribute to the fine programming that PBS offers.

I don’t begrudge the Washington DC elites their “cultural” events, but it seems to me that while the “sequestration” has caused so much harm to the various agencies of the government in budget cuts, furloughs of employees, military cuts in training and benefits, with more threats of more harm from the sequester, this event could have been postponed until times are better for all, not just a few. I just wish that the President and Jack Lew would have had a better idea than sequester to rein in some of the wasteful government spending. And yes – we do know that it was their idea.